Social Business Trends

Social media is driving more content to virtually every digital nook and cranny around the globe, with the velocity of a fire hose on a lit match. So it’s only ironic that the U.S. government recently called a well-known corporate executive on the carpet for disclosing (actually more like gushing) some positive news on Facebook to his quarter-million fans. Nothing wrong with putting out the good word, mind you, but if you run a publicly traded company you’re supposed to think twice before talking about the numbers of customers (which translates to dollars) reached by a certain time period (which …

Last month I examined whether social media has dispensed with privacy. Since influencers in the social spaces suggest that success in new media increasingly will be enhanced by your willingness to extend your personality into the Great Wide Open, privacy probably has been disrupted – as the social thought leaders are wont to say – forever. If there is a flip side to privacy, it’s security. Even the casual participant in social streams has probably experienced Twitter accounts that have been hacked, which often then send Direct Message (DM) spam with colorful messages or alarming warnings coupled with links that …

“Privacy is dead, and social media hold the smoking gun.” – Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable I recently mentioned the word privacy to a social media business colleague while researching the topic of this post. My friend Rachel Strella, who caters to the small business market, responded with a shrug. I wasn’t surprised. As participation in social channels becomes the status quo for our connected, engaged generation, are standard notions of privacy still applicable, or even relevant? Are we trending away from concerns about what is public and what is off limits? To be sure, there continues to be ongoing discussions …

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin Unless a venture succeeds, in the business of social media we are probably obliged to only one of Ben Franklin’s certainties. And in that case, the operative expression might be Domain Not Found, rather than death. Anyone who invested a lot of time, energy and (ouch!) financial resources in building a business presence at MySpace (rebranded Myspace), Second Life, Digg and other fallen stars has earned enough online combat pay to exercise a wee bit more caution before recommending the next new and shiny …

I recently had the opportunity to attend my high school reunion; a rare and, as it turned out, a delightful chance to reconnect with people who, by and large, haven’t seen each other in decades. Some of you might grimace at the thought (was your high school experience really that bad?) or fondly recall those formative, hormone-infused years. From my view, I couldn’t help but think about how this cross-section of classmates was either tracking with today’s social media world, or skimming the social surfaces like so many CEOs (still) pondering whether there is any ROI to be had in …

The great cathedrals, churches and basilicas of Europe are treasured for their exquisite stained glass windows, which for a millennium have been viewed with awe and inspired spiritual reflection. The high aesthetic of colored glass and lead depicts icons, saints and biblical narratives for a once largely illiterate audience in a world where books were the rare domain of clergy, the aristocracy and the wealthy elite. Gutenberg, 20th century printing press technology and the public education mandate changed all that. So it is somewhat ironic that the Internet, which started as a pure text medium, is now responding to social …

Space is really, really big. As it turns out, data is going to be even bigger. The content we actively create, exchange, curate and archive represents a veritable unending avalanche of digital wealth. The information deluge is fed by corporations, businesses, institutions and non-profits. Then add to that content from the vast array of social networks via blogs, status updates, forum discussions, video, audio and images. This combination of traditional structured business intelligence information plus unstructured social network content can offer a bonanza of perspectives and insight into the way businesses, consumers and organizations relate to and interact with products, …

Just when you thought it was safe to fire up your company blog and reap the highly touted social business dividends, the marketplace seems to be sending mixed signals. Recent posts by social media influencers have challenged a University of Massachusetts study showing a decline in corporate blogging by rhetorically asking whether it’s possibly time to rethink your company’s blogging strategy, or even forget about it altogether. The marketing industry and businesses with a vested interest in the growth and success of the blogosphere have naturally assumed a bit of defensive posturing concerning the long-term outlook for blogging as a marketing …

Businesses come and go. But your personal name, that’s another matter altogether. In the social business world, your name can be leveraged as your personal identifier across myriad social media sites as well as your monetized business brand. In creating a new business or online presence, one of the toughest decisions you may make is whether to establish your social business brand by your personal name or a fictitious “DBA” identity, such as a catchy word, phrase or slogan. It’s hardly a trivial decision, especially considering your online identity eventually will sprout hundreds if not thousands of backlinks which will …

I have a confession to make. I don’t usually share this sordid obsession, but I feel it’s long overdue. A cathartic moment is good for the soul, and it doesn’t hurt one’s Google page view rankings either. So please let me unburden myself, step into my tawdry, secret pixelated world. I am a hoarder. I collect things. Lots of things. But please do not let your imagination run amok with claustrophobic images of a decrepit, insidious lifestyle. I’m not making a veiled cry for help, or a pitch to be the next celebrity profile on A&E’s voyeuristic Hoarders show. Let …

Business was so much easier during the Middle Ages. Establish your fiefdom, keep the serfs happy, collect taxes and fend off the occasional barbarian hoard or the jealous younger sibling. Oftentimes a monarch with a large domain to protect couldn’t afford a standing army or a well-stocked armory. Thus was born just-in-time defense and the invention of the “freelance”— knights expert in the art of war who would sell their battlefield prowess to any lord or baron with enough gold, precious stones or land to render payment. So what does this WayBack Machine story have to do with social media? …

Sign Up for Blog Updates

Get Neal's Newest eBook on LinkedIn!

Twitter

About Neal Schaffer

Neal Schaffer is a leader in helping businesses strategically leverage and maximize ROI from social business. Currently President of the Social Media Strategy Consultancy Windmills Marketing, Neal is the author of the upcoming Wiley publication Maximize Your Social as well as two other social media books. Neal is also a frequent social media speaker who has engaged audiences on three continents. Neal's social media strategy consulting accomplishments include working for a Fortune 500 company and a Grammy-award winning musician with more than 1,000,000 social media fans. How can Neal help you?